Danny Niv (Hebrew: דני ניב‎) (born March 2, 1975 in Yavne, Israel), better known as Muki
(sometimes styled as Mook E.) (Hebrew: מוקי‎) is an Israelisinger and rapper, best known as the
frontman for successful Israelihip hop/punk act Shabak Samech between 1992 and 2000, and
again since 2007. He is also a successful solo artist. In Shabak
Samech, he was also known by the nickname Muki D,
given him due to the resemblance of his voice to the voice of Mike D of the
Beastie Boys.

Contents

Biography

Born under the name Daniel Neyburger (Hebrew: דניאל נייבורגר‎), Muki
broke out into the musical scene in the age of 17, when he formed
the hip hop act
Shabak Samech
with a bunch of friends. The band proved to be successful among the
Israeli youth and sold thousands of records. The band was active
since 1992 until 2000, and released three studio albums and one
live album. The band reunited in 2007 for a short tour across
Israel and a new album.

After the disbandment of Shabak Samech in 2000, Muki went out to a
successful solo career, in collaboration with his Sahabk Samech
co-member Piloni (Danny Kark). Muki's first solo
album was Shma Israel (שמע ישראל) which was
released in 2001. The band proved to be very successful, sold
25,000 copies and went gold. The
album included guest appearances from artists such as Yuval Banai, Kwami and
more. Successful singles from the album included "מדברים על שלום"
(Talking About Peace), which was written about the will for peace
at the days of the Second Intifada, "ילדה סוכר" (Sugar
Girl) and "האדמה בוכה" (The Land Cries) which featured Yuval Banai. The same
year, Muki was chosen as Singer of the Year in
Israeli radio station Galgalatz's year's end awards.

In 2002, Muki had his big screen debut as an actor when he
played a small role in the Israeli movie Broken Wings. In 2003, he had a
role in the first season of the Israeli TV show "שבתות וחגים"
(Weekends and Holidays), and in 2004 he had a role in the movie
"תיאום כוונות" (Coordination of Intentions).

In 2005, Muki released his second solo album - Okef
Mi'Lemala (עוקף מלמעלה) which was also recorded with
Piloni, who composed, produced and arranged all of the songs. The
biggest hit from the album was the single "עוקף מלמעלה" (Coming
from Above). Muki said he was surprised from the success of the
album as the album was very different from his previous works and
that most songs were not radio friendly. The album was released on
a label Muki and Piloni formed the same year, called Shabak
Music. In 2006, Muki performed vocals on the song "מעצבי
דעת הקהל" (Shape of Public Opinion) on the album Al
Ha'Mishmeret by Rami Fortis and Berry Sakharof. In 2007, he performed on
a new song with Izhar
Ashdot called "מטעי הדובדבן של אוקראינה" (Ukraine's Cherry
Plantations), and on the song "החיים" (The Life) with Shlomo Artzi.

In April 2008, Muki released his third album Be'emet ve
Mikarov (באמת ומקרוב) which was an acoustic album,
featuring acoustic renditions of songs from Muki's two previous
albums. The album featured an acoustic cover of "לומדת לעוף"
(Learning to Fly) by Dana Berger, which featured Dana Berger
herself.

Also in 2008, Shabak Samech, who reunited back in 2007 for a
short tour across Israel, released their fourth studio album,
Boom Carnival.

In the summer of 2009, Muki recorded a punk rock album with Israeli punk rock band Useless ID. Muki wrote all the lyrics, while
Useless ID frontman and bassist Yotam Ben-Horin was responsible for the
music and arrangements. The collaboration of Muki & Useless ID
started performing live shows together since August 2009, with the
album released on January 7, 2010, followed by a special release
show on January 28, 2010 at the Barby club in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Muki states that the collaboration started when Muki spotted the
band performing live at the MotorolaMotoMusic event, and
asked the band to collaborate with him, which led to the recording
of the song "לא רוצה להתבגר" (Don't Want to Grow Up), which became
the theme song for the Israeli sitcomRamzor. After the recording of the song, Muki
showed Useless ID frontman Yotam Ben-Horin some more songs he
wrote and within days Ben-Horin has arranged the lyrics with his
own music into full songs, which led to the band entering the
studio with producer Yossi Fine to record a full-length album.[1][2]